Two children have been killed in a mass shooting during a Catholic primary school Mass at a church in the United States overnight. Source: OSV News.
The gunman shot from outside the Annunciation Catholic Church, in Minneapolis, through windows at the Mass attendees from the adjacent Annunciation Catholic School, with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, killing two children, aged 8 and 10.
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, 17 others were injured, including 14 children. Three adults who were shot were parishioners in their 80s.
While there were “a range of injuries” among the injured children, they are all expected to survive, Chief O’Hara said during a press briefing.
The suspected gunman is also dead and believed to have taken his own life.
Local media is reporting the suspected shooter was 23-year-old Robin Westman, who formerly went by Robert, and that his mother had been an employee of Annunciation Catholic School.
Court documents filed in Dakota County, indicate that Westman identified as female and petitioned to formally undergo a name change to reflect that identity. The request was granted on January 15, 2020.
Chief O’Hara confirmed that Westman appeared to have barricaded at least two of the church’s exterior doors with two-by-four wooden boards to trap Mass attendees inside.
Yesterday was the third day of the school year for the Catholic primary school, which serves students in preschool to grade eight. Students were attending an all-school Mass that began at 8.15am local time. Authorities were alerted at 8.27am.
The mass shooting at Annunciation appears to be the first of its kind involving a Catholic school since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado.
Fr Erich Rutten, pastor of nearby St Thomas the Apostle Parish, rushed to the school to pray with and comfort distraught and grieving parents.
He told NBC News that parents were in “great, great anxiety and grief,” with some “wailing and crying, some stooping to the ground.”
He said he hugged those he recognised; several of them joined in as he prayed the Rosary.
Pope Leo XIV joined bishops and Catholic leaders across the US in issuing their condolences and offering prayers in solidarity with the church in Minnesota.
FULL STORY
Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis leaves 2 dead, 17 injured (By Maria Wiering, OSV News)
